Teams | February 2, 2014 at 12:29 PM
First home game of 2014
First home game of 2014
On Sunday (02.02.14, 3.30 pm) Hertha BSC host 1. FC Nürnberg at the Olympic stadium.
Berlin - What can be expected of an opponent who failed to win any games during the opening half of the season, only to beat Hoffenheim 4-0 in the first game since the restart? That is probably the key question buzzing around 0the minds of Hertha's coaching staff before the Bundesliga matchday 19 visit of Nürnberg to the Olympic stadium in Berlin on Sunday afternoon. As usual, Hertha are only focusing on their own game after unluckily losing 0-1 in Frankfurt last time out: "We have to rekindle the kind of strengths we showed before the winter break. We kept things tight in Frankfurt and hardly allowed them anything. That has to be maintained", says Hertha veteran Peter Niemeyer.
Top scorer Adrian Ramos sustained a cut in Frankfurt but trained with the team again on Thursday (30.01.14). The Columbian is expected to start Sunday's game. Brazilian midfielder Ronny went over on his ankle earlier in the week, but like left back Johannes van den Bergh resumed full first team training on Thursday. Tolga Cigerci, "Jay" Brooks and Alexander Baumjohann are all working hard on their comebacks. While Cigerci and Brooks were lapping the training pitch, Baumjohann trained with the team but was not allowed to tackle or do any shooting practise yet. Fabian Holland, Maik Franz, Peer Kluge and Änis Ben-Hatira will all play for the reserves against FC St. Pauli. Keeper Sascha Burchert is still sidelined through injury.
No reason to panic
Although Hertha lost to Frankfurt, panic is not making the rounds just yet at the capital city club. The game rightly was given the label "unlucky defeat" and put to bed. Now the focus is solely on the visit of Nürnberg. The squad worked hard during training this week and seemed keen for the action to start again. Hertha boss Jos Luhukay has never beaten Nürnberg in five attempts. The historical record between the two sides is quite even. In 31 games there were 13 victories each, while five further games were draws.
After changing coaches, new Nürnberg boss Gertjan Verbeek has given the Franken-based side structure and organisation. It took him nine games for him to finally taste victory. No Nürnberg coach has ever been given that much time to succeed. The main problem is their lack of scoring prowess. They create top scoring chances but waste most of them. Their stats speak for themselves. Nürnberg has a chance conversion rate of 37% - the Bundesliga average is 48%. Another problem they have are goals conceded. Keeper Raphael Schäfer has plucked the ball out of his net 33 times in 18 games so far. Only Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen and TSG Hoffenheim have conceded more. Now though they seem to be fighting back. In the game against Hoffenheim Nürnberg won 148 tackles - season best, and their players ran 3,4 kilometres more that Hoffenheim. Crucial aspects required in a relegation dog fight.
Defensive injury woes for Nürnberg
Nürnberg have more than their fair share of injury woes, especially in defence. Emanuel Pogatetz is ruled out of the Berlin trip, while Per Nilsson is considered doubtful. Marcos António misses out for certain. Because of those injuries to their key central defenders left back Javier Pinola will play in central defence. Japanese national team captain Makoto Hasebe and Niklas Stark also miss out. Hanno Balitsch broke a toe and is also ruled out. Nürnberg offloaded Alexander Esswein (to Augsburg), Muhammed Ildiz (Turkey) and Markus Mendler (on loan to Sandhausen) during the January transfer window. They also signed two new players. Ondrej Petrak, a Czech Repulic under-21 defensive midfielder, and José Campana a central midfielder.
“As a team we have to up our game a little in order to continue the form shown before the winter break", knows Luhukay, who told the media at the pre-match press conference: "We were good in defence and we worked hard on our game going forward." A win over second bottom placed Nürnberg will be anything but easy. After all they have the same amount of defeats as Hertha - 6. Nürnberg's Josip Drmic told hertha.bsc.de this week: "I expect it to be a tough away game for us. But we have to win it in order to move a step closer to achieving our goal."
Possible line-ups:
Hertha BSC: Kraft – Pekarik, Lustenberger, Langkamp, van den Bergh – Hosogai, Niemeyer – Allagui, Skjelbred, Schulz – Ramos
1. FC Nürnberg: R. Schäfer – Chandler, Petrak, Pinola, Plattenhardt – Frantz – Drmic, Feulner, Kiyotake, Hlousek – Ginczek
Top scorer Adrian Ramos sustained a cut in Frankfurt but trained with the team again on Thursday (30.01.14). The Columbian is expected to start Sunday's game. Brazilian midfielder Ronny went over on his ankle earlier in the week, but like left back Johannes van den Bergh resumed full first team training on Thursday. Tolga Cigerci, "Jay" Brooks and Alexander Baumjohann are all working hard on their comebacks. While Cigerci and Brooks were lapping the training pitch, Baumjohann trained with the team but was not allowed to tackle or do any shooting practise yet. Fabian Holland, Maik Franz, Peer Kluge and Änis Ben-Hatira will all play for the reserves against FC St. Pauli. Keeper Sascha Burchert is still sidelined through injury.
No reason to panic
Although Hertha lost to Frankfurt, panic is not making the rounds just yet at the capital city club. The game rightly was given the label "unlucky defeat" and put to bed. Now the focus is solely on the visit of Nürnberg. The squad worked hard during training this week and seemed keen for the action to start again. Hertha boss Jos Luhukay has never beaten Nürnberg in five attempts. The historical record between the two sides is quite even. In 31 games there were 13 victories each, while five further games were draws.
After changing coaches, new Nürnberg boss Gertjan Verbeek has given the Franken-based side structure and organisation. It took him nine games for him to finally taste victory. No Nürnberg coach has ever been given that much time to succeed. The main problem is their lack of scoring prowess. They create top scoring chances but waste most of them. Their stats speak for themselves. Nürnberg has a chance conversion rate of 37% - the Bundesliga average is 48%. Another problem they have are goals conceded. Keeper Raphael Schäfer has plucked the ball out of his net 33 times in 18 games so far. Only Hamburger SV, Werder Bremen and TSG Hoffenheim have conceded more. Now though they seem to be fighting back. In the game against Hoffenheim Nürnberg won 148 tackles - season best, and their players ran 3,4 kilometres more that Hoffenheim. Crucial aspects required in a relegation dog fight.
Defensive injury woes for Nürnberg
Nürnberg have more than their fair share of injury woes, especially in defence. Emanuel Pogatetz is ruled out of the Berlin trip, while Per Nilsson is considered doubtful. Marcos António misses out for certain. Because of those injuries to their key central defenders left back Javier Pinola will play in central defence. Japanese national team captain Makoto Hasebe and Niklas Stark also miss out. Hanno Balitsch broke a toe and is also ruled out. Nürnberg offloaded Alexander Esswein (to Augsburg), Muhammed Ildiz (Turkey) and Markus Mendler (on loan to Sandhausen) during the January transfer window. They also signed two new players. Ondrej Petrak, a Czech Repulic under-21 defensive midfielder, and José Campana a central midfielder.
“As a team we have to up our game a little in order to continue the form shown before the winter break", knows Luhukay, who told the media at the pre-match press conference: "We were good in defence and we worked hard on our game going forward." A win over second bottom placed Nürnberg will be anything but easy. After all they have the same amount of defeats as Hertha - 6. Nürnberg's Josip Drmic told hertha.bsc.de this week: "I expect it to be a tough away game for us. But we have to win it in order to move a step closer to achieving our goal."
Possible line-ups:
Hertha BSC: Kraft – Pekarik, Lustenberger, Langkamp, van den Bergh – Hosogai, Niemeyer – Allagui, Skjelbred, Schulz – Ramos
1. FC Nürnberg: R. Schäfer – Chandler, Petrak, Pinola, Plattenhardt – Frantz – Drmic, Feulner, Kiyotake, Hlousek – Ginczek